SSI's Computer Baseball manual and box

A STRATEGY GAME OF AMERICA S NATIONAL PASTIME

LIMITED WARRANTY

Strategic Simulations, Inc. (“SSI”) warrants that the diskette on which
the enclosed program is recorded will be free from defects in materials
and workmanship for a period of 30 days from the date of purchase. If
within 30 days of purchase the diskette proves defective in anyway, you
may return it to Strategic Simulations, Inc., 883 Stierlin Road, Building
A-200, Mountain View, CA 94043-1983 and SSI will replace it free of
charge. In addition, if the diskette proves defective at any time after the
first 30 days, return the diskette to SSI and SSI will replace it for
a charge of $10.00. Please allow about four weeks for delivery.

SSI MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH
RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM RECORDED ON THE DISK¬
ETTE OR THE GAME DESCRIBED IN THIS RULE BOOK, THEIR
QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR
ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE PROGRAM AND GAME ARE SOLD
“AS IS.” THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THEIR QUALITY AND PERFORM¬
ANCE IS WITH THE BUYER IN NO EVENT WILL SSI BE LIABLE FOR
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
RESULTING FROM ANY DEFECT IN THE PROGRAM OR GAME EVEN
IF SSI HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
(SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CON¬
SEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION
MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.)

The enclosed software program and this Rule Book are copyrighted. All
rights are reserved. This Rule Book may not be copied, photographed,
reproduced, or translated or reduced to any electrical medium or
machine-readable form, in whole or in part without prior written
consent from SSI. The program accompanying this Rule Book may be
copied, by the original purchaser only, as necessary for use on the
computer for which it was purchased.

© 1981 by Strategic Simulations, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.l

Parts Inventory.1

Loading the Game .1

Saving a Game (Part I) .2

STARTING A GAME.2

PLAYING A GAME.2

The Display.3

DEFENSE ACTIONS .3

Infield Positions.3

Outfield Positions.4

Holding Base Runners.4

Pitching Changes and Status Checks . 4

Defensive Substitution.5

Saving a Game (Part II).5

Pitching to the Batter.5

OFFENSE ACTIONS .5

Base Running.5

Pinch Hitters and Pinch Runners.6

Hit, Hit and Run, and Bunt.6

Actions Common to

Offense and Defense.6

SOLITAIRE PLAY.6

INJURIES AND

PLAYER EJECTIONS .6

ENTERING AND REVISING
TEAM DATA . 7

Fielding Rating.7

Pitchers Batting Rating .7

Running Rating. 8

MODEL DESIGN.8

Pitcher Effectiveness . 8

Batter Effectiveness . 8

Effects of Managers' Decisions . 8

DESIGNER’S NOTES.8

NOTE: The rales of baseball apply in all cases unless otherwise specified.

INTRODUCTION

Baseball is a game of both strategy and
statistics. Opposing managers manipulate
pinch hitters, infield positions, relief pitchers
and base runners, trying to obtain that small
statistical edge which can mean the differ¬
ence between victory and defeat. COMPUTER
BASEBALL™ allows you to manage some of
baseball’s greatest teams, and make those
key managerial decisions yourself This game
is a realistic simulation of Major League
baseball, incorporating numerous statistical
parameters to determine the outcome of
every play.

This manual explains how to play the
game using any of the 28 teams provided,
as well as how to enter data for new teams.
If you are reasonably knowledgeable about
baseball and about your computer, you can
get started playing the game almost
immediately by reading the sections on
STARTING A GAME and THE DISPLAY, and
referring to the players’ aid cards to see
what options are available to you on offense
and defense. You can then come back later
and read more about the details of the
various actions, or about how to enter or

revise team data. Available for use on the
game disk are 28 Major League teams from
the past. These teams are described in the
separate Famous World Series Matchups
manual.

PARTS INVENTORY

A. Game Box

B. Rule Book

C. 5 l A" Game Disk

D. Two Players’ Aid Cards

E. Famous World Series Matchups Manual

LOADING THE GAME

APPLE (DOS 3.2 or DOS 3.3): Boot your
game disk and the game will begin auto¬
matically. If you are using an Apple II with
PASCAL, you must use your BASICS disk. If
you are using an APPLE III, you must first
go into APPLE II Emulation Mode.

AIARI (DOS 2.OS): Boot your disk and
the game will begin automatically.

COMMODORE 64: Turn on your com¬
puter and disk drive and insert the game disk
in your drive. Type LOAD 8 (RETURN).
When the program is loaded, type RUN
(RETURN).

1

SAVING A GAME (PART I)

During play if you choose to save the
game, you will need an additional disk to
store the data. Once the game is saved, you
will be able to restart it from the point at
which you stopped.

APPLE: The disk must be initialized for
SSI use by following the instructions
included in the program.

ATARI: The disk must be formatted for
use by following the instructions included in
the DOS Reference Manual.

COMMODORE 64: The disk must be
initialized for use.

STARTING A GAME

When you boot the COMPUTER BASE¬
BALL game disk, you will be given the op¬
tions of 1) playing a game against the com¬
puter, 2) playing a 2-player game, 3) entering
data for a new team, 4) reviewing or editing
data in an existing team data file, or 5) demo
game. Selecting either of the first two options
will lead directly to playing a game, while
options 3 and 4 allow you to return to this
same 5-option menu after you are finished
working with the team data file. The proce¬
dures available under options 3 and 4 are
described in the section on Entering and
Revising Team Data.

Select either of the game-playing op¬
tions, 1 or 2, and you will be asked whether
you want to play a new game or continue a
game which had been saved previously. To
replay a saved game, the only additional
information needed is the file name under
which the game was saved. (APPLE only:
You will need to indicate also whether you
want to use keyboard or paddles to input
offense and defense actions to the computer.)

When playing a new game, you will be
provided a menu for selecting the name of
the visiting team and the name of the home
team. Data for these teams will be read in
from data files stored either on the game disk
or on a separate team data disk. Next indi¬
cate whether or not you want to use desig¬
nated hitters to bat for the pitchers. Managers
now will be prompted to enter their starting
line-ups in the following sequence: home
team pitcher, visiting team pitcher, home
team batting order, and visiting team batting
order. This allows each manager to know
what pitcher his team will be facing when
he is selecting the rest of his line-up.

Just before selecting the starting pitchers,
you will be asked if you wish to enter “days

since last pitched” data for each pitcher. If
you answer (Y)es, then you will be prompted
to enter, for each pitcher, the number of days
since he last pitched (yesterday = 1, etc.),
and the number of innings pitched that day
(rounded to a whole number). Pitchers
considered to be not fully rested will subse¬
quently have their names printed inversely
(black on white) in lists of available pitchers,
to remind you that these pitchers will not be
as effective as normal if called upon to pitch.
The formula used for determining whether a
pitcher is rested is described in the section
on Pitcher Effectiveness.

Entering your starting line-up consists
of identifying the player and pressing
RETURN, and then entering his position and
RETURN for the nine spots in your batting
order. (On the APPLE, the player number
and position, separated by a comma, may
be entered at the same time.) Each player is
identified by a roster number (1 to 25), and
positions are specified using the following
abbreviations:

P Pitcher (C-64: PI)

C Catcher (C-64: CA)

IB First Base
2B Second Base
3B Third Base
SS Shortstop

A player entered without a fielding position
will automatically be assigned the first
defensive position listed.

As each player is entered in the line-up,
his roster number on the screen will be
replaced by his sequence number in the
batting order, printed black on white. When
all nine players have been entered, you will
be shown your indicated batting order and
asked to OK it. The computer then will check
to see that there are no errors (e.g., two
players playing the same position) before
proceeding.

Pitchers may not be used in any posi¬
tion other than pitcher, and non-pitchers
cannot be used as a pitcher.

PLAYING A GAME

COMPUTER BASEBALL is played in the
same manner as real baseball. As each bat¬
ter comes to bat, the defensive manager can
exercise a variety of options, such as re¬
positioning his infield, holding runners more
closely, or trying to pitch around the batter.
Likewise the offensive manager can choose
among several possible options, such as

LF Left Field
CF Center Field
RF Right Field
DH Designated Hitter
PH Pinch Hitter

2

bunt, steal, hit and run, or sending up a
pinch hitter. Once the offensive manager
has indicated his batting strategy, the ball is
pitched and the results of whatever play
occurs are shown on the display.

THE DISPLAY

Displayed on the screen while a game
is in progress are a scoreboard, batter and
pitcher status information, and a representa¬
tion of the playing field. The bottom line on
the screen is used to solicit inputs on actions
to be taken and to describe the results of
each play.

The scoreboard display shows a standard
inning-by-inning run history and a cumulative
total of runs, hits and errors. The scoreboard
only shows nine innings, so in extra inning
games the first nine-inning history will be
erased and the next nine innings will be dis¬
played. The inning numbers at the top of the
scoreboard will not be changed, however.

Below the scoreboard and to the left of
the field, selected batter and pitcher data
are presented. The current batter (with his
batting average), and the next scheduled bat¬
ter are listed, along with the current pitcher.
The names of any pitchers currently warm¬
ing up in either bull pen are also shown. A
'+’ symbol will be printed in front of the
name of any pitcher who has been warming
up long enough to be fully ready to come
into the game.

The playing field display provides a
visual indication of the positions of the de¬
fensive players, whether the pitcher and the
batter are right or left handed, and the base
running abilities of any runners on base.
A partial animation of the action on the field
is also displayed. Each pitcher-batter inter¬
action is represented on the display by a
single pitch. The result of that interaction is
then represented graphically on the field,
and described verbally at the bottom of the
screen. A batted ball is represented by the
ball moving to a point on the field where it
will be played by a fielder (except for home
runs!). On base hits, the ball is simply re¬
turned to the mound. The ball may be thrown
to one or more bases, if necessary, on outs.
The movement of runners and fielders are
not shown.

The offense and defense action inputs
for the visiting team will appear on the lower
left of the display, and those for the home
team on the lower right. Plays are selected
by typing the two letter command, followed
by ‘RETURN’.

(APPLE only: Selecting a play in the
paddle mode is done by turning the knob
until the desired action is displayed on the
screen and then pushing the button.)

DEFENSE ACTIONS

The defensive manager has several dif¬
ferent types of actions available, namely:
1) setting the infield position, 2) setting the
outfield position, 3) indicating how close to
hold base runners, 4) making pitching
changes, 5) making a defensive substitution,
6) saving the current game status, and 7)
indicating how to pitch to the batter. Deci¬
sions by the defensive manager are made
before those of the offensive manager, and
are terminated by selection of one of the
three possible ways to pitch to the batter. If,
however, the offensive manager inserts a
pinch hitter or a pinch runner, then the
defensive manager’s decision-making phase
is repeated.

Each of the defense actions will now be
described. For easy reference, these are listed
on one side of the Player’s Aid Card, with
the offense actions on the opposite side.

INFIELD POSITIONS

There are 5 different ways you can have
your infield play: 1) normal, 2) double play
depth, 3) guarding the lines, 4) in at the comers,
and 5) in all around. Whatever option is selected
will remain in effect until changed or until there
are three outs.

Normal Infield (NI) usually is used when¬
ever the bases are empty, there are two outs,
or there is a runner on second only. It also may
be used with less than two outs and a runner
on third, if preventing the batter from getting a
hit is more important than keeping the runner
on third from scoring. NI is automatically se¬
lected at the start of each half-inning.

Double Play (DP) depth is where the
secondbaseman and shortstop play slightly in
and closer to second base. It increases the
chances of making a double play with a runner
on first, at the cost of increasing the chance of a
ground ball going through the infield for a sin¬
gle. It normally is employed with a runner on
first and less than two outs.

Guarding the Lines (GL) consists of mov¬
ing the firstbaseman and the thirdbaseman
closer to the foul line to guard against extra¬
base hits down the line. It is often employed
late in a close game to decrease the likelihood
of a double or triple, at the expense of a

3

somewhat greater increase in the likelihood of
a ground ball single. The secondbaseman and
shortstop will automatically play at double
play depth if first base is occupied.

In at the Comers (IC) causes the firstbase-
man and thirdbaseman to play in closer to
home, and the secondbaseman and shortstop
to play at double play depth. It is used to guard
against bunts, and to improve the chances of a
play at home with a runner on third. The price
you pay is a significant increase in the chance
of a ball hit to first or third going for a single.
The secondbaseman and shortstop will try for
a double play if there are runners on both first
and third and less than two out.

Infield In (IN) is called when you want to
try and make a play on a runner attempting to
score from third on an infield ground ball. It
has a better chance to succeed if the bases are
loaded and there is a force play at home, than
if either first or second is empty. The penalty
is a greatly increased chance of a sharply hit
ground ball going through the infield for a single.

OUTFIELD POSmONS

There are two outfield positions available:
1) normal and 2) shallow.

Normal Outfield (NO) is used in the vast
majority of defensive situations. It is automat¬
ically selected at the start of each half-inning.

Shallow Outfield (SO) typically is used
only with a very weak hitter (such as a pitcher)
at bat, or with the winning run on third in the
last half of the last inning and less than 2 outs.
In this latter case, you are trying to stop the
short fly ball from falling in for a hit, and giving
up on long fly balls which would probably be a
sacrifice fly anyway.

HOLDING BASE RUNNERS

There are three different methods your
team can use to hold runners on base - normal,
loose or tight.

Hold Runners Normal (HN) is the standard
method, and the one that is in effect at the start
of each half-inning.

Hold Runners Loose (HL) is where your
infielders will essentially play where they would
be playing if the bases were empty, not trying
to keep base runners close to their bases. This
tactic is often employed with bases loaded,
with slow runners on first or second, or with a
substantial lead.

Hold Runners Tight (HT) involves having
the firstbaseman stay on the bag with a runner
on first, and the pitcher throw over often to
keep the runner from getting too big a lead.

Other fielders also will play closer to their bases
when there is a runner present. Pitch outs are
assumed to occur on occasion, making it
more difficult for a runner to steal, but also
reducing the pitcher’s effectiveness against
the batter. Pick-offs also are more likely, as is
the probability of throwing the ball away on a
pick-off attempt. The HT tactic typically is
employed when there is a good runner on first
in a close game, a sacrifice bunt is anticipated,
or the tying or winning run is on second base
in the late innings.

PITCHING CHANGES AND
STATUS CHECKS

Proper management of pitching resources
is one of the primary keys to success for a base¬
ball manager. Youhave the opportunity in
COMPUTER BASEBALL to make many of the
same pitching decisions faced by Major League
managers. The two commands which are
used to control the use of pitchers are Bull Pen
Change (BP) and Visit the Mound (VM).

Bull Pen Change (BP) allows you to place
one or two pitchers in the bull pen to warm up,
bring a new pitcher into the game, or have a
pitcher stop warming up. Relief pitchers will
not be fully effective until they have been
warming up or pitching while at least three bat¬
ters have come to bat. The actual time needed
to get ready varies for each pitcher according
to the number of relief appearances and the
average number of innings pitched per game;
pitchers with many relief appearances and few
innings pitched per game will warm up fastest.
A visit to the mound, a change of pitchers and
the break between innings each count as the
equivalent of one batter for warm-up purposes.
A pitcher who has previously warmed up dur¬
ing a game will warm up one batter faster. A
pitcher who is fully warmed up will have a ‘ +’
in front of his name on the display. Keep in
mind that extra time spent warming up in the
bull pen causes a pitcher to tire sooner when
he enters the game.

The BP command is also available to the
offensive manager, with the added feature of
his being able to determine how tired his pitch¬
er is. On defense, this information can only be
obtained through a visit to the mound, which
is described next.

Visit the Mound (VM) is a defensive
manager’s option which has two possible
purposes: to find out how tired his pitcher is,
and to give his relief pitcher extra time to warm
up. The manager will be told that his pitcher is
either OK, tiring, or tired. The length of time a

4

pitcher can pitch before tiring is a function of
the average number of innings pitched per
game, and whether he is a starter or reliever.
Pitchers steadily lose effectiveness while they
are tiring, until they are able to be hit fairly easily
when their status is shown as tired. Note that
you only have one free visit to the mound per
pitcher per inning; on the second visit you
must change pitchers.

DEFENSIVE SUBSTITUTION

Change Players (CP) is the command
which will permit you to insert new players into
the defensive line-up, or change defensive
players’ positions. You will be shown the cur¬
rent line-up and then asked whether you are
making, a substitution or a position change. If
making a substitution, the roster of available
players will be presented to help in making
your selection.

SAVING A GAME (PART II)

Save Game (SG) permits you to save the
current status of a game so that it can be con¬
tinued later. Apple and Commodore users
may save a game at the start of every half
inning, before a pitch is thrown. Atari users
may save a game only at the top of an inning.
A separate disk must be used to save the data.
See SAVING A GAME (PART I) on page 2.

PITCHING TO THE BATTER

The defensive action phase is terminated
by any of the following three methods of pitch¬
ing to the batter: pitch, pitch around, or inten¬
tional walk.

Pitch is the standard command for the
defense to use to pitch to the batter. This
command can be selected simply by pressing
‘RETURN’. (APPLE only: In the paddle mode
of play, the command is P.)

Pitch Around (PA) is employed when you
don’t want to give a batter anything good to hit
The effect is to significantly increase the prob¬
ability of walking the batter, while decreasing
the likelihood of an extra-base hit.

Intentional Walk (IW) is used to deliber¬
ately send the batter to first base by pitching
four straight balls.

OFFENSE ACTIONS

There are three types of unique actions
available to the offensive team’s manager, and
two commands — Save Game (SG) and Bull
Pen Change (BP) — which are available to both
offense and defense. The SG and BP com¬
mands are described in the DEFENSE ACTIONS

section. The three offense command categories
are: 1) selecting a base running strategy, 2) put¬
ting in a pinch hitter, and 3) choosing how you
want the batter to hit the ball (hit away, hit and
run, or bunt). Play will begin only when one of
these hitting methods is selected, or when a
stolen base is attempted.

BASE RUNNING

Base running strategies available to the
offense are: normal, aggressive, and conser¬
vative. The offense may also order stolen bases
to be attempted directly.

Run Normally (RN) is the standard base
running option, and is automatically in effect
at the start of each half-inning. Under this base
running strategy, a steal of second occasionally
will be attempted on their own by runners with
a running rating of 7 or above. Advancing an
extra base on a hit also will be attempted, but
not very often, and only when there is a better
than even chance of success.

Run Aggressively (RA) results in base run¬
ners taking more chances when running the
bases. This strategy often is selected with 2 outs
and a weak hitter on deck, or when tied or one
run down late in a game. Runners with a run¬
ning rating of 5 or greater may attempt to steal
second on their own, with 8 or 9 rating runners
stealing on their own about half of the time. All
runners will be more aggressive about attempt¬
ing to take an extra base on hits, or tagging up
and trying to score on fly balls to the outfield.

Run Conservatively (RC) causes base
runners to not take chances unless there is a
very high probability of success. No base run¬
ners will attempt steals on their own. This strat¬
egy usually is chosen when you are several
runs behind, and don’t want to lose a big rally
by having a base runner thrown out trying to
steal or take an extra base.

Steal (ST) is used to have one or more
base runners attempt to steal a base. With
runners on first and third, a double steal will be
attempted if the aggressive base running strat¬
egy is in effect. All other steal situations with
more than one runner on base are automati¬
cally double or triple steals. Even though a steal
is ordered, it is possible, particularly for runners
with low running ratings, that the runner will
not be able to get a jump on the pitcher, and
the batter will hit away. As noted earlier, at¬
tempts to steal second base also can occur on
the runner’s own initiative. Steals of home have
a very low probability of success, and should
only be attempted by a runner with a very high
running rating.

5

PINCH HITTERS AND
PINCH RUNNERS

Pinch Hitter (PH) gives you the option of
having one of your players on the bench replace
the scheduled batter. You will be shown the
roster of available reserves, including pitchers,
from which to select your pinch hitter. If you
pinch hit for your pitcher, you will automatically
be given a Bull Pen Change command at the
completion of the half-inning, so that you can
enter a new pitcher. You will be given the op¬
portunity to leave a pinch hitter in the game,
and by doing so it is possible to make a multiple
substitution. The defensive manager gets an¬
other command entry opportunity following
the naming of a pinch hitter or a pinch runner.

Pinch Runner (PR) is used to have some¬
one on the bench replace one of your base
runners. You will be shown the list of available
players and the name and running rating of
each base runner, then asked to name the pinch
runner and which base he is going to (if more
than one runner is on base). Pitchers cannot
be used as pinch runners. As with pinch-hitting,
you will be given an opportunity to leave the
pinch runner in the game.

HIT, HIT AND RUN, AND BUNT

Any of the following three commands will
cause the ball to be put in play, thus ending the
offense decision phase.

Hit is the usual method of ending the of¬
fense action selection phase. It can be selected
by simply pressing ‘RETURN’. (APPLE only: In
the paddle mode of play, the command is H.)

Hit and Run (HR) may be employed with
a runner on first or runners on first and third.
The runner attempts to steal second, while the
batter tries to hit the ball through the hole left
by the fielder who is covering second on the
steal. It can be effective at breaking up ground
ball double plays, but the runner may be dou¬
bled off on a line drive. The batter also can
swing and miss, in which case the play is treat¬
ed as a normal steal attempt.

Bunt (BU) is a command which can be
given for a sacrifice or squeeze play attempt,
or to try for a base hit. A bunt with the bases
empty is always considered to be a bunt for a
base hit, as is a bunt with a runner on second,
third, or second and third, if conservative base
running is in effect. A bunt with a runner on
third and normal base running will result in a
“safety” squeeze, but will be a “suicide” squeeze
if used with aggressive base running. Bunts
with runners on first, or first and second, are

always considered sacrifice attempts. A bunt
has the greatest chance of success with the in¬
field back in its normal position, and least effec¬
tive with infielders playing in. Each batter’s
bunting ability is calculated from his running
rating, batting average, and percentage of sin¬
gles. One possible outcome of a bunt attempt
is that the batter is initially unsuccessful and
now has two strikes on him. In this case, you
will be given the opportunity to continue the
bunt attempt, or to change and have the batter
hit away (in either case the batter has an
increased probability of striking out).

ACTIONS COMMON TO
OFFENSE AND DEFENSE

The offensive manager also may select
the Save Game (SG) and Bull Pen Change (BP)
commands which are described in the previous
section on DEFENSE ACTIONS.

SOLITAIRE PLAY

If you are in need of an opponent and no
one is around, Casey, the computer baseball
manager, will be glad to take you on. Simply
select option 1 on the Start-Up menu, and
Casey will be called on to make the managerial
decisions for whichever team you indicate. Of
course, as experienced table-top gamers are
aware, it also is possible to play a game while
making the decisions for both teams yourself.

Casey will select a starting line-up of his
own, or you can enter one for him, if you prefer.
It is also possible to indicate players which are
not available due to injury or other reasons.
During the play of the game, Casey’s decisions
will be indicated on the field display or in the
text region below the display, whenever they
would normally be known to an opponent.

INJURIES AND
PLAYER EJECTIONS

It is possible for a player to be injured and
forced to leave a game. The computer will spec¬
ify the player injured. For those playing a mul¬
tiple game series or a season, the computer
will give the number of games the player must
sit out before being available for use. Players
must keep track of multiple game injuries
themselves (i.e., the computer will not keep
track of injuries from game to game). It is also
possible for a player to be ejected from a game
for arguing with the umpire. If a player is forced
out of a game by either injury or ejection, the
computer will ask for a substitute player.

6

ENTERING AND
REVISING TEAM DATA

Twenty-eight Major League teams, oppo¬
nents in 14 of the classic World Series encoun¬
ters of the past, are provided on the COMPUTER
BASEBALL game disk. A disk containing all of
the Major League teams from the most recent
season will be available by mail from SSI, within
6 months after the baseball season ends

Option 3 on the Start-Up menu provides
the option of entering and saving player data
for any team — from Little League to an All-
Time All-Star Major League squad. Option 4
allows you to review and revise the entries for
an existing team. This feature permits the cor¬
rection of erroneous entries, the trading of
players, or the modification of actual player
statistics to explore “What if?" possibilities.
Team data files generated by using options 3
or 4 must be stored on a separate disk. See
SAVING A GAME (PART I) for instructions on
preparing the disk. Team names consist of a
nickname (APPLE or COMMODORE 64:
maximum of 10 letters. ATARI: maximum
of 8 letters) and a modifier (APPLE or COM¬
MODORE 64: maximum of 5 letters; ATARI:
maximum of 2 letters) such as the year,
separated by a dash ('-’). Therefore, the
symbol may not be used in either the nick¬
name or the modifier.

When entering data for a new team, you
will be prompted for each data entry required.
For pitchers, this data consists of: wins, losses,
games, games started, complete games, in¬
nings pitched, hits against, walks, strikeouts,
earned run average, fielding rating, batting
rating, and whether he throws right or left
handed. Procedures for estimating the fielding
and batting ratings are discussed in the follow¬
ing sections. The maximum number of pitchers
on a team is 10.

Data required for each batter is: games, at
bats, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, runs,
SBI’s, walks, strikeouts, stolen bases, batting
stance (right, left or switch hitter), and position-
fielding rating combinations for up to four dif¬
ferent positions. Outfielders may be rated
either at one or more specific positions, or be
given a general'OF’ rating. An OF rating applies
only when playing LF or RF; it will be reduced
by 2 if the player is used in CF. The maximum
number of non-pitchers on a team is 15.

NOTE: A player’s first or last name has a
maximum of 12 characters (APPLE or ATARI)
or 10 characters (COMMODORE 64).

FIELDING RATING

Each player is assigned a fielding rating
(FR) for each position he plays, up to a maxi¬
mum of four positions. Values for FR range from
1 (worst) to 9 (best), and indicate a fielder’s
approximate overall fielding ability at a given
position. Fielding ratings are based primarily
on fielding percentage, but also should take
into account other factors, such as throwing
arm for an outfielder or catcher, or range for an
infielder. In general, a 5 rating is average for a
Major League player, a 9 signifies a Golden
Glove winner, and a 1 rating applies to some¬
one who has not played that particular position
very often or very well. A fielder used at a posi¬
tion for which he does not have a rating will be
assigned a rating of 1.

The following formulas may be used to
obtain an approximate FR value based solely
on fielding percentage. Remember that fielding
percentages can be deceiving indicators for
players who did not play very many games at a
position, so don’t give a 9 rating just because
someone happened to play one or two games
at a position without an error.

FR

Pitcher

Catcher

Firstbaseman

1

.000-.869

.000-.955

.000-970

2

.870-894

.956-.964

.971-.976

3

.895-.909

.965-.971

.977-.980

4

.910-.924

.972-.976

.981-.984

5

.925-.939

.977-.981

.985-.987

6

.940-.954

.982-.986

.988-.990

7

.955-.969

.987-.991

.991-.993

8

.970-.984

.992-.995

.994-.996

9

.985-.999

.996-.999

.997-.999

FR

2B

3B, SS

Outfielder

1

.000-.925

.000-.917

.000-.935

2

.926-.935

.918-.927

.936-.943

3

.936-.945

.928-.937

.944-.951

4

.946-.955

.938-.947

.952-.959

5

.956-.963

.948-.957

.960-.967

6

.964-.971

.956-.963

.968-.975

7

.972-.979

.964-.971

.976-.983

8

.980-.987

.972-.979

.984-.991

9

.988-.999

.980-.999

.992-.999

PITCHERS BATTING RATING

The approximate batting ability of pitchers
is represented by the Pitchers Batting Rating
(PBR), which, like FR, is a number from 1 to 9.
This number is related most closely to batting
average, but also reflects increased power with
increasing values of PBR. A formula which can

7

be used to estimate PBR is:'

PBR = { 1 + 30 ★ BA}

where BA is batting average and j } indicates
reduction of the result to an integer. Since the
maximum PBR value is 9, pitchers hitting .300
or above will all have a PBR value of 9. You
might consider adding 1 to a PBR rating for
pitchers with more than one-third of their hits
for extra bases.

RUNNING RATING

A running rating value of 1 to 9 is comput¬
ed for each player by the program. This rating
is based primarily on the ratio of stolen bases
to times on base from a single or a walk. The
player’s primary defensive position is also
considered in the computation. A rating of 9
represents a runner with a high percentage of
stolen bases per opportunity, while a 1 rating
is normally assigned to a catcher with no steals
or a weak-hitting pitcher.

MODEL DESIGN

COMPUTER BASEBALL is a sophisticated
probabilistic simulation of the game of base¬
ball. Each aspect of the possible interactions
that can occur on a baseball diamond is mod¬
elled by formulas relating the probability of
various outcomes to the performance records
of the players involved. The principal interaction
is between the pitcher and the batter, and this
is the most elaborate of the individual models.
The two components of the pitcher-batter inter¬
action are termed Pitcher Effectiveness and
Batter Effectiveness, and these are discussed
briefly in the following sections.

PITCHER EFFECTIVENESS

Pitching plays the dominant role in deter¬
mining the outcome of the pitcher-batter inter¬
action, just as it does in actual baseball. The
fundamental effectiveness of a pitcher is based
on the ratio of hits against to the approximate
number of batters faced (hits plus walks plus
outs). A pitcher’s ERA number of wins and
winning percentage also influence total pitcher
effectiveness, particularly with runners on base.
Walk and wild pitch probabilities are based
on the average number of walks per innings
pitched, while strikeout probabilities are direct¬
ly related to strikeouts per inning.

Simulation of how soon a pitcher will begin
tiring is based on a starting pitcher’s ratio of
complete games to games started, and the
average number of innings pitched per appear¬
ance for both starters and relievers. A random

factor is included also, so that a pitcher will tire
earlier in some games and later in others. If the
"days since last pitched" option is used, the
formulas used for determining if a pitcher is
fully rested are:

DR = { 1 + SQR (3 ★ IP/4)) (Starters)

DR = { SQR (4'ATP) - 2 )) (Relievers)

where DR is number of days rest needed, IP is
number of innings pitched, and SQR stands
for square root.

BATTER EFFECTIVENESS

Each batter’s effectiveness is derived from
the ratios of the number of hits, home runs,
walks, etc., to the number of times at bat. The
effects of batting against right-handed or left-
handed pitchers is another important factor;
batters do better when batting against a pitcher
who throws opposite to the way they bat. The
ratio of RBI’s to total at bats is considered
when runners are in scoring position, so that
batters who drive in a high percentage of runs
are more effective in these situations. A batter’s
running rating is used in determining such
things as the likelihood of grounding into a
double play.

EFFECTS OF MANAGERS’
DECISIONS

A fundamental consideration in the design
of COMPUTER BASEBALL was to permit each
team’s manager to become involved as much
as possible in determining the outcome of the
game through the decisions he makes. The
equations used to compute the outcome prob¬
abilities of almost every play make extensive
use of the various items which are under the
manager’s control, such as infield position and
base-running aggressiveness. The game will
also play reasonably well (though not as real¬
istically) if the base running, hold runners or
infield position manager’s options are not used.

DESIGNER’S NOTES

The development of COMPUTER BASE¬
BALL involved a continuing battle between the
desire for more realism, more options and
more unusual outcomes on the one hand, and
the limitations of available computer memory
on the other. There were many things that we
would like to have included, such as the effects
of different ball parks, or the inclusion of more
data on each player, but the practical limita¬
tions of computer memory size intervened. As
it currently exists, the program is segmented
into three parts, each of which almost fills the

8

available memory space when running.

One of the big advantages of a computer-
based baseball strategy game over table-top
board games is the number of different factors
that can be considered in determining each
outcome on the field. The effects of as many
separate factors as possible were included in
computing the probabilities for the results of
each play Some of these have been mentioned
in the descriptions of the offense and defense
actions, and in the section on MODEL DESIGN,
but many more interaction effects are included
in the game design than are mentioned in this
rules manual. The whole intent of the game
design has been to create a game which plays
as much like real baseball as possible, yet is
entertaining and fun to play on a computer.
The use of the animated graphics of each play
on the field is a compromise between providing

information about what is happening on the
field in an entertaining way, without using up
too much computer time or memory.

The selection of the teams to include with
the game was a difficult decision. The solution
arrived at was to include a set of famous World
Series teams from the past with the standard
game, and then provide by mail a new team
disk with the teams from the most recent Major
League season each year. This way, no one will
buy a game with “out-of-date” teams. If you
don’t want to buy a separate team data disk,
you can always enter data for the current year’s
teams yourself.

Designing COMPUTER BASEBALL was a
lot of fun, and play testing it was even more so.
We hope you get as much enjoyment from
playing it as we had in developing it.

CREDITS

Game Design & Programming

Charles Merrow & Jack T. Avery

Commodore Version Programming

Roy Wagner

Game Development

Joel Billings

Customized Disk Operating System

Roland Gustafsson

Play Testers

Trip Hawkins, Frank Pellegrini & Rick Spinelli

Art & Graphic Design

Louis Hsu Saekow, Kathryn Lee & James C Sommerville

Typesetting

Abra Type

Printing

A&a Printers and Lithographers

9

If you have any questions or problems regarding the program or game, please send
a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your question to: STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS
INC, 883 Stierlin Road, Building A-200, Mountain View, CA 94043-1983.

Or call our Hotline Number: (415) 964-1200 every weekday, 9 to 5 (P.S.T.).